DONALD Trump has banned airlines from flying over the Sea of Japan after a North Korean missile came close to hitting a packed passenger plane, it has been reported.

Most of North Korea's airspace, known as the Pyongyang Flight Information Region, was already off-limits to US airlines, but the no-fly zone has now been expanded.

The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said: "Due to the hazardous situation created by North Korean military capabilities and activities, including unannounced North Korean missile launches and air defence weapons systems, all flight operations in the Pyongyang Flight Information Region are prohibited.”

The move to extend the no-fly zone above North Korea by the US follows the same moves made by Germany and France.

The decision comes after the hermit kingdom fired a missile on July 28 that came close to a plane carrying 323 passengers on board.

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Air France Flight 293 had taken off from Tokyo and was heading to Paris when the missile passed by before plunging into the Sea of Japan.

North Korea previously issued warnings to the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) when they were planning to conduct missile tests, however, the rogue nation has skipped out on this protocol in recent years.

The FAA added: “North Korea also conducted an extensive number of ballistic missile launches during 2016.

“North Korea did not notify ICAO or publish a Notice to Airmen warning of any missile launches in 2016 or 2017.”

Donald Trump's Asia tour in pictures

Mon, November 13, 2017

Donald Trump and Melania Trump embark on a 12-day trip to five different Asian nations which are Japan, South Korea, China, Vietnam and the Philippines

Korean Demilitarized Zone: The world's most dangerous border

Established by the provisions of the Korean Armistice Agreement to serve as a buffer zone between North Korea and South Korea

A South Korean tank of the 8th Mechanized Infantry Division takes part in a live-fire exercise at a training ground in Cheorwon, near the demilitarized zone (DMZ)

“The North Korean regime has pursued its nuclear and ballistic missile programmes in defiance of every assurance, agreement and commitment it has made to the United States and its allies.

“It’s broken all of those commitments.

“After promising to freeze its plutonium programme in 1994 it repeated the benefits of the deal and then immediately continued its illicit nuclear activities.

“In 2005 after years of diplomacy the dictatorship agreed to ultimately abandon its nuclear programmes and return to the treaty on non-proliferation, but it never did and worst it tested the very weapons it said it was going to give up.”

GETTY

The move to extend the no-fly zone above North Korea by the US follows actions by Germany and France

Trump emphasised that the US refuses to be “blackmailed or attacked” and sent a stern warning to Pyongyang that previous regimes that have failed to comply with American rhetoric have been “discarded”.

He added: “America does not seek conflict or confrontation, but we will never run from it.

“History is filled with discarded regimes that have foolishly tested America’s resolve.

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North Korea previously issued missile warnings to the International Civil Aviation Organisation

“Anyone who doubts the strength or determination of the United States should look to our past and you will doubt it no longer.

“We will not permit America or our allies, to be blackmailed or attacked. We will not allow American cities to be threatened with destruction.

“We will not be intimidated and we will not let the worst atrocities in history be repeated here on this ground we fought and died so hard to secure.”